Administrator of james



UNITED STATES ATFNT rricn.

JAMES E. BOYLE, JR, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ADMINISTRATOR OF JAMES E. BOYLE, DECEASED.

SIPHON WATER-CLOSET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,867, dated June 14, 1892.

Application filed October 26, 1891. Serial No, 409,826- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that JAMES E. BOYLE, de ceased,late of Brooklyn, i n the county of Kings and State of New York, of whose estate I,

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to water closets wherein the bowl is flushed by the action of a siphon formed in the outlet or soil passage, 1

and also to those wherein a jet of water diverted from the flushing-water is employed 3 1 beneath the water-level therein, so as to he to aid in starting the siphon. 5

wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a siphon-jet 1 closet constructed according to this invention.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof. Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical mid-sections through the bowl and soil-passage, the former figure showing the closet in a state of rest and the latter showing it in operation. Fig. 5 is a similar 2 5 section illustrating a modified construction.

The closet is formed with a bowl A, having an outlet at a, from which leads a tortuous soil-passage B, terminating at the end of the bowl and preferably in line with the center 0 thereof in a foot or connection 1) for connection with the soil-pipe leading to the sewer. The soil-passage B extends upwardly from the outlet to to form an upper trap O, designed to retain abody of water in the bowl. From 3 5 this trap the passage extends downwardly, and is then carried upward to form a second trap D, whereby a water seal is maintained, isolating the portion of the passage B intervening between the two traps, which consti- 4o tutes an air-space E. From the overflow of the lower trap the soil-passage descends to the foot I). This arrangement of the two successive traps in the soil-passage is common.

The bowl A has a flushing-rim c with discharge slots or outlets for the water alongits lower side, so that the entering water will wash down the sides of the bowl. The flushingpipe is joined by a suitable connection to a flushing-opening d,which opens into achamher F. From the front side of this chamber The improvements will be described with 3 reference to the accompanying drawings,

phon-closets and its up leg has its area inan outlet f leads into the flushing-rim c, which is formed with a downward extension 0 at this point for communication with this outlet. From the rear side of the chamber F leads a jet-opening G, which discharges water down into the air-space E. By reason of a wall or partition g the opening in the jet-passage G from the chamber F is raised to a higher level therein than the outletf to the flushing-rim. From the upper part of the air-space E an air duct or passage H extends along the exterior of the closet and enters the up leg of the lower trap D by an opening it normally sealed. The lower trap D is made with a much deeper seal than is usual in sicreased to about double that of the down leg. Ordinarily the up leg and down leg are of equal area.

lVhile the closet is in a state of rest the bowl A is sealed from the sewer by the water in the traps O and D, and the air-space is in communication with the atmosphere within the bowl through the medium of thepassages G Ff and the flushing-rim. Upon discharging flushing-water into the bowl it divides in the chamber F into two approximately equal streams, one half flowing into the flushingrim and streaming down therefrom into the bowl, while the other half flows down the jetopening G and falls through the air-space E. The first effect of the introduction of this jet into the air-space is to compress the air therein; but this compression is instantly relieved by an outflow of air through the passage II, which bubbles up from the opening 71- and enters the passage on the discharge side of the lower trap. Instantly thereafter the falling of the water from the jet G becomes ef- 9o fective to rarefy the air in the upper part of the air-space by drawing the air down with itby indcction, while at the same time the water falling into the down leg of the trap D raises the level therein, and thereby, as well 5 as by its impetus, starts the outflow through the lower trap, so that the water is caused to overflow from the up leg thereof into the downward passage I, leading to the foot. As soon as the rarefaction is formed in the air- 10o space, the water from the trap C commences to flow over thereinto, aided by the slight raising of the water-level in the bowl by the inflow of water thereto. The overflow of water from the trap C forms an additional suction in the air-space E and accelerates the outflow from the trap D, While the overflow from the latter trap exerts a suction in the passage 1, tending to draw over the water from this trap and increase the outflow therethrough. There is consequently a rapidly-increasing outflow through the soil-passage, which soon reaches its maximum and siphons the water out of the bowl, carrying with it whatever night-soil or other matters it may contain. It will be understood that during the flushing operation two siphons are formed in the tortuous soil-passage, the first consisting of the up leg of the upper trap as its short leg and the airspace E as its long leg, and the second consisting of the up leg of the lower trap as its short leg and the downward passage I as its long leg. By the connection between these siphons being unbroken they constitute, in effect, one siphon, the long leg of which extends from the waterlevel in the trap C to the foot or outlet 1). The siphonic outflow continues as long as the full downflow of flnshing-water is discharged into the chamber F, unless sooner broken by drawing in air from the bowl A through its outlet at. If the inflow of flushing-water is sufficiently prolonged, the siphonic outflow may be broken and reestablished two or more times; but this will not ordinarily occur.

The flushing-tank to be used with this closet should be one of the well-known tanks which reduce the stream of flushing-water toward the end of the flush. When the entering flushing-water is thus reduced to a small stream, its outflow through the j et-passage G ceases by reason of the high partition g, and the remaining water flows out through the openingfinto the boss 0 of the flushing-rim and through an opening i in the bottom thereof into the bowl to refill the latter with water up to the normal level. At this time the siphoning action has entirely ceased by the final breaking of the vacuum by the drawing in of air from the bowl into the air-space.

The present invention is in some respeotsa development of the siphon water-closet embodied in the patent of the said James E. Boyle, No. 372,199, dated October 25, 1887. It differs therefrom, first, in the air-space E being in communication with the atmosphere through the bowl, whereas in said patent it communicates with the sewer; second, in that the vent-passage H has its opening h below the water-level in the trap D instead of above it, as formerly; third,in the introduction of a water-jet diverted from the flushing connection and directed into the air-spaceE or long leg of the upper siphon for the purpose of accelerating the siphonic action, and, fourth, in the up leg of the lower trap being increased to about double the area of the down leg thereof,

whereas formerly it was of the same area. The siphon-closet described in said patent constituted a considerable improvement over ordinary siphon-closets as previously known, since there is less raising of the water-level in the bowl by the admission of the flushing-water before the starting of the siphonic outflow, or because of its being, in other words, less sluggish than its predecessors. The present invention constitutes a further improvement 1n this respect over the one shown in said patent. By the increase in area of the up leg of the lower trap the downflow into the trap before the siphonic outflow is instituted raises the level in its up leg only three-fourths of an inch above the normal,whereas formerly it raised it to one and one-half inches above the normal, so that this improvement adds virtually three-fourths of an inch to the downleg of the upper siphon without adding anything to the height of the closet, and consequently to that extent it quickens and strengthens the siphonic pull. The action of the jet of water projected into the down leg or air-space E from the passage G has the effcct of further accelerating the outflow and generating a siphonic suction. The result of these changes is that, whereas in the former closet the level in the bowl is raised one inch by the inflow of flushing-water before the siphonic outflow commences, in this improved closet the outflow commences so nearly instantaneously that there is no perceptible raising of the level in the bowl. The opening his arranged by preference close to the rear side of the up leg of the lower trap and is made as a horizontal slot. By placing it in this position it is somewhat out of the path of the direct flow of the stream of water that is sweeping through the trap during the siphoning. This is done for the purpose of re ducing the suction exerted upon the column of air in the passage H, so that since the Vacuum is greater during the siphoning in the lower trap than it is at the upper part of the air-space E, and there is consequently a current of air downward through the pasage H, yet by this arrangement of the opening h the suction is less than it would be it the opening were in the direct flow of the water, and the downflow of air through the passage H is less rapid. By this means any liability of so great a suction being formed in this passage as to draw into it pieces of paper or night-soil is obviated.

Fig. 5 shows a modification wherein the closet is constructed with a back air connection for ventilating the sewer-pipe. In the construction first described the back air con nection is designed to be applied to the sewerpipe beneath the floor; but in this construction the sewer-pipe is ventilated through a passage 12, opening 0, and external passage q, leading to a chamber r, which is formed with a barrel for joining the back air connection in the same manner as shown in Figs. 1 to 5 of the patent of said James E. Boyle, No.

423,022, dated March 11, 1890. The passage 19 is carried down nearly to the foot by means of a partition .9 in order to make the portion I of the soil-passage beyond the lower trap serve as the down leg of the siphon. In this respect the construction is the same as that shown in Figs. 1 to 6 and Figs. 9 and 10 of said James E. Boyles patent, No. 372,109, aforesaid.

It is known that in a single-trapped closet, which is not a siphon-closet, the up leg of the trap has been made of increased area; but this in the instance referred to was apparently accidental and would afford no useful result, and that the combination of such con struction in a siphon-closet whereby a new result is attained is a novel feature of the present invention.

I claim as the invention of the said JAMES E. BOYLE the following-defined novel features or improvements, substantiallyas hereinbefore specified, namely:

1. A watercloset consisting of the combination of a bowl,the soil-passage leading therefrom, an upper trap in said passage by which water is retained in the bow1, a lower trap therein by which an air-space is formed be tween the two traps, and an air-passage leading from said space and opening into the up leg of the lower trap beneath the normal water-level therein, so as to be sealed thereby when the closet is at rest.

2. Ina double-trapped siphon-closet, the combination of a jet-opening for diverting a jet from the flushing-water and discharging it into the air-space or down leg of the siphon, in combination with an air-passage leading from said air-space and terminating in an opening sealed in the up log of the lower trap when the closet is at rest.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES E. BOYLE, JR,

Administrator estate James E. Boyle, de-

ceased. Witnesses:

FRED WHITE, CHARLES K. FRASER. 

